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iPod cannot be synced – Duplicate file name was specified

July 1, 2011 By 13 Comments

After about 5 years, I’m in the process of replacing my 3rd generation iPod with a 30GB hard disk with a brand new 4th generation iPod Touch with 32GB of SD. While I’m still holding on to the old iPod, I’m switching back and forth on syncing the iPod and the iPod Touch. Until I got an error on the old iPod that it cannot be synced, because there was a duplicate file name.

The solution is actually very simple. Somehow the file system on the iPod is corrupt, and you’ll have to rebuild it. On Windows, this can be done in two ways:

  1. If you plug the iPod in, a screen comes up automatically suggesting you scan and fix this device. Check both boxes to make sure a complete scan is complete.
  2. If that screen doesn’t pop up, click on Start, My Computer. Windows then shows you all the storage devices connected to your computer. Right-click on the iPod, and select Properties. In the screen that pop ups, select the Tools tab. On that tab, select the Check Now button in Error Checking.

It may take a long time to scan, but it should finish. When it finishes, unplug the iPod, wait 1 minute, then plug it back in. It should work now. If it doesn’t, open up iTunes, select the iPod in the Devices section, and select Restore. After the restore finishes, do the Error Check on the iPod one more time.

Filed Under: Features, Music Tagged With: , , ,

The Beatles are on iTunes

November 17, 2010 By 1 Comment

Yesterday Apple announced that the Beatles are on iTunes. Finally.

And after complimenting Apple’s marketing campaign on their really convincing commercials, I think this one falls flat on its face:

“In 1964 the band that changed everything came to America. Now they’re on iTunes.”

What exactly is the message here? It took 46 years for the Beatles to be available on iTunes? Or the fact that you have 13 albums on line?

Amazon’s MP3 download section shows 790 results for the search “Beatles”. And if you really wanted to listen to the Beatles on your iPod but didn’t want to buy it from Amazon, just bring out your old Beatles CDs and import them into your iTunes library.

News? Maybe. Front page news? I don’t think so. Move along everyone, nothing to see.

Update: Apparently I’m not the only one who thinks this is NoNews: see this Joy Of Tech comic.

Filed Under: Music Tagged With: , , , ,

iTunes 9.1 authorization and Windows 7

June 23, 2010 By 6 Comments

I recently started working with Windows 7 on my work computer (expect a slew of updates to the old Vista postings :-) ) and ran into some problems with iTunes. First off, it needed the special 64-bit installer to be run (I’m using Windows 7 64-bit), even though after doing that it installed almost everything in C:\Program Files (x86) (the default directory for 32-bit applications).

Then I tried to sync to my iPod. Oops, I forgot to authorize the new computer. So I authorized it. All seemed well, except for the Audible audiobooks… I added the Audible manager, authorized the Audible account in iTunes, and resynchronized. Now it came up with the message Some of the items in the iTunes library, including “…”, were not copied to the iPod “…” because you are not authorized for them on this computer. Yes I am. I just authorized them. Doing the authorization again confirmed that. I even restored my iPod to factory default settings (and forgot that to complete that you have to plug it in to a wall socket… :-( ). None of that helped – I still got the message.

That same message (or similar at least) popped up when I tried to play one of the protected files. And no matter how often I authorized the computer, and iTunes kept telling me that it is already authorized, it didn’t want to stick. Now, since Vista, Microsoft has introduced this new security model, mainly consisting of User Access Control (UAC), but also a change in what is considered an Administrator. In XP, it was sufficient to be part of the local administrator’s group. Under Windows 7 (and Vista), there is a distinct difference between running as a user of the Administrator’s group, and the option Run as Administrator. And apparently iTunes needs that!

After setting iTunes to Run as Administrator, I started it up and tried to play one of the protected songs. iTunes told me the computer wasn’t authorized, so I authorized it (again…). This time it seemed to stick however! The song actually played. And now it seems to actually synchronize all the songs, including the protected ones.

It does seem to take excruciatingly longer to synchronize when running iTunes as Administrator. Also, it makes me feel a little uncomfortable to say the least: it shouldn’t run as Administrator constantly. But it solved the issue for now, and I hope anyone else out there can benefit from this.. :-)

Filed Under: Music, Windows Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

iPod with Sad iPod Icon fixed by Google and Digg!

January 18, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Last Saturday my iPod froze up. After applying the reset (Hold on, Hold off, press and hold Menu and Select at the same time), the screen displayed the Sad iPod Icon. Fearing my podcast and audio book listening days were not over but put on indefinite hiatus, I drove home and entered the URL the iPod displayed: http://www.apple.com/support/ipod.

The results there were less than encouraging: try and reconnect your iPod to the computer (sorry, problem didn’t occur while connecting to the computer), or send it in for repairs. Well, we’re talking an almost 4 year old iPod here, so any repairs would probably cost more than the iPod is worth (heck the shipping cost is probably more than it’s worth…!). So I decided to use Google to see if anyone had an alternative solution.

This leads me to a Digg article, that pointed to an article “How To Fix an Ipod with the Sad iPod Icon” on Spilling Coffee. The basic solution boils down to:

  1. Put something on your desk (a stack of paper works great) to prevent your desk from getting damaged (don’t worry about the iPod)
  2. Grab the iPod firmly, with the connector pointing down
  3. Slam it on the stack of papers on your desk

The idea is that the hard disk connector can come lose enough not to make connection anymore, but still be attached enough that a good bang will snap it back into place.

So with a heavy heart and closed eyes I banged my iPod on the desk and performed another reset. Lo and behold, the menu appeared! And faster than it had done on previous resets!! Thanks Tom Coffee!

Warning: banging your iPod on your desk may cause damage to desk, iPod, or anything else in the vicinity. It worked for me, but it may not work for you. Banging your iPod is a serious form of Apple fan-dom…

Filed Under: Macintosh, Music Tagged With: , , , , ,

September 9th Apple’s Let’s Rock event in a nutshell

September 10, 2008 By Leave a Comment

Yesterday Apple had its September presentation, which, as the title “Let’s Rock” may have given away, was focused on iTunes and the various iPod models. Here are the announcements in a nutshell:

  • HD TV shows added to the iTunes store. $2.99 per episode ($1.99 for standard definition), and you can view them on Apple TV and your computer (and hopefully you iPod).
  • NBC returns to the iTunes store.
  • iTunes 8 is announced:
    • New browsing options
    • Genius mode: automatic playlist based on songs that “go great together”. It sounds like Pandora in iTunes.
  • iPod classic: the current line up of an 80GB and a 160GB model will be changed to one 120GB model, priced at $250 (what, not $249?).
  • iPod Nano 4G:
    • has the form factor of the Nano 2G
    • the video of the 3G
    • Built-in accelerometer
    • new User Interface
    • landscape mode for coverflow
    • thinnest Nano yet
    • $149 for 8GB, $199 for 16GB
  • iPod Touch:
    • Thinner
    • has integrated volume control
    • built-in speaker(!)
    • Genius playlist creation
    • Nike+ built-in (you still need the Nike+ transmitter)
    • $229 for 8GB, $299 for 16GB, and $399 for 32GB
  • AppStore: 100 million downloads in the first 60 days. Upcoming offerings: Spore Origins, Real Soccer 2009, Need for Speed: Undercover.
  • Two new headphones:
    • A regular set with in-band control (volume, next, prev, play, pause) and microphone for $29
    • An in-ear set with two drivers per bud (woofer and tweeter) for $79
  • iPod Touch 2.1 software: Free upgrade for 2.0 users, $9.95 for 1.x users
  • iPhone 2.1 software:
    • Free upgrade
    • improved battery life
    • fewer call drops
    • fewer crashes
    • increased speed for iTunes backups

It sounds that Apple is slowly retiring the iPod classic, and adding more emphasis on the AppStore. More news can be read at Gizmodo and other sites around the net.

Filed Under: Macintosh, Music Tagged With: , , , , , ,
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